Works to begin at Continental Coal mine

South Africa-focused coal miner Continental Coal says site works are expected to start at its Vlarkvarkfontein mine in about two weeks.

The Australian-listed company said mining contractor Trollope Mining Services (TMS) was expected to deliver an initial 100,000 tonnes of crushed coal a month.

TMS was expected to begin topsoil stripping at the site and conventional open cast mining was forecast to start in the later stages of the first quarter of 2010, the company said.

“Annualised production of 1,000,000 tonnes of domestic quality thermal coal and 350,000 tonnes of export quality thermal coal are scheduled," the company said on Monday.

“Offtake sales agreements, for the domestic and export coal product, are currently being finalised with South African power utility Eskom and a number of international coal trading houses respectively."

Continental managing director Bruce Buthelezi said TMS was one of the most reputable and experienced coal mining contractors in South Africa.